The Anuradhapura manager of LOLC Finance Company has sent a written complaint to the Secretary of the Judicial Services Commission and Anuradhapura High Court Judge Sanjeewa Somaratne stating that the Kahatagasdhigiliya Magistrate arrived in a motor vehicle with a sub-inspector and stopped the jeep he was travelling in by parking across the road so that he could not proceed, alleging that he had committed a traffic offence.
He had then taken the driver’s licence into his custody and taken it to the official office of the magistrate and tried to illegally influence him. Channa Suraj Seneviratne of Kahtagasdhigiliya Light Road, Rathna submitted an affidavit certified by attorney Jayalath Abeysinghe and lodged the complaint. The relevant complaint also states: Dr.Ashoka Paaris, one of my closest friends, requested my car for a personal matter. Therefore, on October 5, 2023, I left for work at my workplace in Anuradhapura in the jeep belonging to my friend Dr. Ashoka Paaris. On the road from Kahatagasdigiliya to Anuradhapura, passing the Rathpathwila area and driving about two kilometers towards Anuradhapura, that morning at around 7.50 am, a speeding black car was following me, honking continuously and flashing its headlights. I observed through the side mirrors of the jeep I was driving, that they were pursuing me.
I immediately slowed down the jeep I was driving. At the same time, the black car that came speeding from behind stopped in front of my jeep across the road and it was blocking
the road in front of me. The incident is like a scene from a western movie. A Police Officer (Sub- Inspector Nihal, attached to the Kahatagasdhigiliya Police) got out of that black car bearing number NW/KP/3076. At the same time, another person got down from the driver’s seat and approached me. He was identified as the person who drove the car. This person asked me, who I was. At that time, I stated that I am the branch manager of LOLC Finance Company, Anuradhapura.
Then, the person stated that he was the Magistrate of the Kahtagasdhigiliya Magistrate’s Court and said further that while I was driving the jeep towards Anuradhapura, a stone had caught in a wheel of my jeep and had been thrown on to the windscreen of the car driven by the Magistrate and damaged it. I replied and told the magistrate that there was no incident of a stone from the wheel of my jeep, hitting his vehicle. Then the magistrate said, Yes, I realized that you did not know. But a stone flew from the wheel of the jeep and the windscreen of my car got damaged.”
Later, the magistrate asked for my driving licenCe. I handed it to him. After that, the magistrate took the driver’s licence and ordered me to discontinue my journey, turn my jeep around andfollow the him to the Kahtagasdigiliya Magistrate’s Court.
At that time, I was very stressed and helpless. As informed by the magistrate, I turned the jeep and drove behind the vehicle being driven by the magistrate. I did not have my driver’s licence with me while driving. The reason is because the Kahatagasdhigiliya Magistrate had taken my driver’s licence. While the Magistrate was on his way to the Kahatagasdigiliya Magistrate’s Court,
he stopped the car in the middle of the Kahatagasdigiliya city and called two officers of the Kahtagasdigiliya Police who were on traffic duty and informed them to come to the Kahatagasdiliya Magistrate’s Court. Later, the magistrate stopped his car after entering the
Kahatagasdigilia Magistrate’s Court premises. I was ordered to park my jeep nearby. Then the Magistrate ordered me to come to the office. I went to the office, and at that time, the Officer-In-
Charge of the Kahatagasdigiliya police and two traffic officers had also been summoned to the Magistrate’s office. There, the magistrate informed me that only third-party insurance had been obtained for his car and therefore to fix the damage to the front left of the windscreen of the Magistrate’s car immediately and to provide a Japanese reconditioned left (windscreen) for that or to pay an amount of rupees one hundred and ten thousand to the magistrate. I was informed that if I do not pay, legal action will be taken against me and the magistrate’s security officer will be his witness. He informed me to buy the said windscreen part and get the bill before 5 pm onthat day, and to make arrangements for the Officer-In-Charge of the Kahatagasdigiliya police to deliver the spare part and bill to him.
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